Relative Importance of Domains of Early Childhood Development for Schooling Progression: Longitudinal Evidence from the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project

• In Event: Collective action towards ECD

Proposal

Abstract
Introduction: Globally, about 17% of school-age children and adolescents were out of school in 2018; nearly 30% of these children live in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While the effects of early childhood development (ECD) on later educational outcomes have been widely studied in western countries, rigorous evidence from SSA countries is limited. Conceptually, all domains of children’s early development have the potential to impact children’s educational outcomes. However, the relative importance of these domains for children’s longer-term success in low-resourced schooling systems remains understudied in SSA countries. The longitudinal study uses domains of Zambian children’s development at age six as predictors of schooling enrollment and educational attainment.
Methods: Data on schooling progression were collected on 333 children in 2019, when adolescents were on average 15 years old and thus should have entered secondary school, assuming normal progression. We analyzed three measures of schooling progression as outcome variables: being in an age-appropriate grade (being on track), current school enrollment (child still in school), and grade repetition. We assessed the importance of executive functioning, cognition, early literacy, language, fine motor skills, and social-emotional factors for school attainment in adolescent.
Results: On average, 43% of children were on track, while 80% were still in school in 2019. Overall, 32% of the children interviewed had repeated at least one grade. Gender differences in being on-track in terms of grade attainment were small, with a noticeable male advantage only in Lusaka. Fine motor, language, and executive functioning showed the strongest associations with on-track enrollment. Further, fine motor skills were most strongly associated with school enrollment, while social-emotional skills, attention, and cognition showed protective associations with grade repetition. Our findings suggest that development in various domains of early childhood development has the potential to influence the later schooling outcomes of Zambian children. Further, the findings also suggest that early childhood experiences such as early enrollment and exposure to early childhood education have the potential to influence later schooling outcomes.
Implications: Our findings imply that if children are deprived of basic education, they will not have the opportunity to develop the basic cognitive skills needed for later educational achievement, resulting in poor labor outcomes. Education is a catalyst for change and essential to reducing poverty. Investments in the early years may boost cognitive capital to yield the highest economic growth.
Keywords: child development, grade repetition, dropout, enrolment, school outcomes

Authors

• Patricia K Kitsao-Wekulo, African Population and Health Research Center

• Silas Odhiambo Onyango, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)